[ t w e n t y . ]

In honor of my TWENTIETH POST (yay!) we have a special, glossy, Collector's Edition blog.

My Top 20 Albums Right Now*

Please note that this is not a ranking, just a list.

20.) Modest Mouse "Good News for People Who Love Bad News." This is one of those albums that I don't remember buying or listening to for the first time. I do know that I had the CD my junior year of high school, but I don't know if I bought it that year, or even when it came out. And I know, one time in high school, I was driving with some kids from yearbook staff (yep, I was a yearbook kid. Can you tell?) and this girl was playing a mix CD-- of her own-- and a Muse song came on and someone asked who it was and she said it was Modest Mouse. I didn't say anything because she was a year older and a lot cooler than I was, and that's what high school was like for me. She was one of those girls who think they're arty-stylish so they wear their mom's nightgown with tights and boots and try to pass it off as an outfit (I'm speaking specifically). Anyway, this album. I happen to think this album is absolute genius. I'm incredibly fickle when it comes to music (sometime, ask me about the Great Led Zeppelin One-Eighty of 2008) but, as you might have been able to glean from my charming anecdote, this album has been in my rotation for years. Throw it on when you're driving on one of those white-skied February days; when your car smells like coffee and sour floor mats and you're wondering how you're making it through another winter. And you'll have you answer.
[song pick: "The World At Large." The shuffle-y, "aw, shucks" canter of this song offset its larger-than-life lyrical beauty and create a numb, but self-aware, vibe. A truly amazing opening track {opening track, that is, if you exclude the 10-second "Horn Intro."}]

19.) Ryan Adams "Heartbreaker." If there are such a things as a flawless albums, this is probably going to have to be filed under that category. This is another one with tremendous "staying power" (to be really cliche) in my music life. This is far more country than pretty much anything I listen to... but... ok, I'll just say it. Ryan Adams is my favorite songwriter. I think everything he does is perfect. I'm not sure why. I just really love that down-and-out, road-weary, brokenhearted vagrant/gypsy style of songwriting. And Ryan has it down. Ryan wrote the book on it. (Well, he read the book on it, anyway.) And, since we were speaking of Modest Mouse, in their words: "I like songs about drifters, books about the same/ They both seem to make me feel a little less insane." That pretty much sums up everything good about this album. He brilliantly covers every aspect of-- er-- heartbreak, from love and loss to homesickness to battles with drugs and alcohol and with himself; everything is vulnerable, relatable and, eventually, cathartic as Aristotlian drama (hey-oh!). This is the archetypal being-sad album, but at the same time, it's too beautiful to be much of a downer.
[song pick: "Call Me On Your Way Back Home." One time I was listening to this song and reading "On The Beach at Night" by Walt Whitman and that was the only time in my life that I have ever found something so beautiful that I literally cried. I invite you to download the song and try it.]

18.) Silversun Pickups "Carnavas." I admit, I only JUST discovered this album; I downloaded it in anticipation of seeing Silversun with Manchester Orchestra in September. While my first impression of this album was that everything on it sounded like "1979" by Smashing Pumpkins, I eventually got over myself and now totally dig this album. Silversun is one of probably fewer than five (and that's a very liberal and very off-the-cuff estimate) bands with female vocalists that I like. Although she is, most of the time, just a backup vocalist. But it counts.
[song pick: "Little Lover's So Polite." Unlike most music snobs, I'm not afraid to admit when the single is my favorite. Hello! It's the single because it's the best one.]

17.) Motion City Soundtrack "Commit This To Memory." Glorious. I'm not sure what else to say, because if I say much more, I'm going to go way overboard. Ok... I just want to say that Motion City is one of the most underrated bands ever and this is their BEST of MANY AWESOME ALBUMS. This is a fun, rowdy pop-punk album that you can actually take seriously; it is articulate, grounded and wise in a way that sets Motion City apart from most pop-punk bands and keeps it from being immature or bratty (shoutout to Green Day! [love you guys.])
[song pick: "Everything Is Alright." One of those songs that I can never listen to just once.]

16.) The Ting Tings "We Started Nothing." Speaking of immature and bratty. It's cute when it's girls, though, right? I usually don't like chick music, especially hipster/ scene chick music (ouch, sorry, I really do like this album.) "We Started Nothing" is probably one of the most fun albums since disco. It turns you into an 11-year-old... in a good way, naturally. The very best way.
[song pick: "That's Not My Name." My best friend and I choreographed a dance to this song. (What did I tell you about being an 11-year-old?) Let me know if you want me to teach it to you... Youtube fame, anyone?]

15.) Powerman 5000 "Somewhere On The Other Side of Nowhere." Easily the most fun thing I've heard since the Tings, or maybe Hellogoodbye. Except, Powerman mixes it up with SciFi-movie dialogue and sound effects, glamming up their super danceable electro-rock-with-metal-tendancies with a Hollywood panache. Needless to say, this album is a WHOLE lot of fun.
[song pick: "Do Your Thing." The kind of fist-pumping, foot-stomping song that makes you feel like you can do anything.]

14.) Fall Out Boy "Take This to Your Grave." It was a toss-up between this one and "From Under The Cork Tree." They're both excellent, but "Take This To Your Grave" is classic. I like FOB's albums in reverse-chronological order. They're already kind of a guilty pleasure and the albums just get worse, and worse, and worse. ALTHOUGH: "Take This To Your Grave" is amazing, "Cork Tree" is amazing, and "Infinity on High" has its moments. And almost-three out of five or six ain't bad.
[song pick: "The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes." Sounds vaguely familiar. {chorus twins! how fun.}]

13.) The Mountain Goats "The Sunset Tree." If I ever really did make an all-time favorite albums list... this would be on it. (But I never have and never want to. Is that weird?) I am so deeply infatuated with this album that I would really recommend it to anyone; however, since we're being honest, this is not for those of you who don't like singers who can't sing. Still... John Darnielle is one of the most prolific songwriters I've ever experienced. He writes with such a clarity that you can almost literally see the world through his eyes (paradoxical, I know, but that's the magic of John Darnielle). If you've ever seen "Being John Malkovich," you kind of already know what listening to this album is like. This is another band I don't remember discovering, and another album I don't remember buying. I don't even remember what the cover looks like. It just seems like I've always had the plain, olive-green disc chillin inconspicuously in my CD case, quietly and patiently waiting to be rediscovered; it's one of those albums that comes and goes in waves: you listen to it nonstop for days and then shelve it for months, and then rediscover it and wonder why you haven't been listening to it nonstop. But, alas, every time I put it in, it's like it finds me just where it left me: "in a bargain-priced room on La Cieniga." As you've probably heard, they put a new album out this month** and I brought this one back out to get in the right mindset. And, here I am, listening to it nonstop. So much so that I'm not really even listening to the new one. What an interesting postmodern irony, so conducive to indie music. Life is so... poetic. Does anyone have a clove cigarette, a crocheted hat and a venti Americano handy? It's hipster time.
[song pick: "Pale Green Things." I absolutely can not stop listening to this song lately. While it was once described to me as a "Nick Drake ripoff," all I hear when I listen to this song is pure, poetic indie-folk alchemy. Honorable mention: "This Year." This is a good song to listen to driving with your crew, windows down, on your way to a show on an amazing fall day. Try it out. Bonus points for claps, snaps, and stomps {shoutout: Alikz Clothier}.]

12.) The Beatles "Abbey Road." This album is an appendage to me.
[song pick: "Golden Slumbers." The most fun I've ever had in under 2 minutes.]

11.) The Shins "Wincing The Night Away." I've ordered this list strategically here, because lately, whenever I am done listening to "Abbey Road," I always go right for "Wincing the Night Away." I'm not really sure why. I'm trying to find parallels, and I can't really. Somehow they just complement each other in a really interesting and really amazing way. I find pretty often when I talk to people who like the Shins, they tend to like their earlier stuff better, and while I would have to agree with that for the most part, I think they've done some their best work on this one (their latest). I am only just getting into this album as an "album" and not just a CD with four of my 10 favorite Shins songs on it. I started to approach it differently; I used to throw it in when I wanted to hear my "faves" on that album, which are all a little more upbeat; but, when I started to seek this album when I needed a more mellow, discreet but substantial album (similar to the mood you're in when you want to hear Death Cab, Sunny Day Real Estate, Broken Social Scene, the Weakerthans etc) with upbeat moments--rather than an upbeat album that loses momentum, becoming mellow and discreet but reluctantly so-- this album and I began to jive a lot better together, and thus a beautiful relationship began. Tonally speaking ("tone" in a literary sense, not a musical one), this album is a little more brooding than their former work, but they never lose an ounce of energy. Another perfect album for a perfect fall day.
[song pick: {extremely difficult.} "Australia." Located deep within this song are not only all the reasons why I love music, but all the secrets of the universe and everything you ever needed to know about life, death, and anything else. Also, please enjoy the music video for "Phantom Limb". On my list of Top 20 Favorite Things In Life Right Now.]

[stretch break! snack break! smoke break!]

[ready?]

10.) Dear and the Headlights "Small Steps, Heavy Hooves." If Counting Crows ever put out an indie album, this is what it would sound like, but it probably wouldn't be as good as this one.
[song pick: "I Just Do." If I could make the whole world a mix cd, this would be on it.]

9.) Death Cab For Cutie "Narrow Stairs." Ben Gibbard... tied for first place as my favorite songwriter. My "first" Death Cab album was "Transatlanticism"--no, not because I liked the O.C. (I did, though). (By the way... I'm writing a research paper for a class on Seth Cohen's effect on the music industry. Not even joking.) And Death Cab has had a firm place in my (prestigious) Top 3 Bands pretty much ever since then. When I was a senior in high school, I was an exchange student to Australia, and a month or so into my stay there, my iPod broke {damn you, 2nd generation iPods}, but I had my trusty TV-yellow Sony Walkman CD player, and about 15 or 20 CDs (among them, "Nimrod," which I later accidentally dropped in Sydney Harbor; John Mayer's "Heaver Things," and greatest hits collections of the Black Crowes (admittedly one of my most beloved bands) and Blind Melon). After my friends back home heard of my music crisis, I began to receive care packages full of mix cds, burned copies of everyones' favorite albums, and smooshed Junior Mints (much love, guys). Among them were Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," Damien Rice's "O", "Transatlantacism" and others which are on my faves list to this day. Anyway, that's my Death Cab story. Sorry it went a little off the rails. I guess I just told that story to remind you that everything happens for a reason. Death Cab is totally worth an iPod.
[song picks: "Your New Twin-Sized Bed;" "Cath".]

8.) Ender "Good News From The Stereo" I serendipitously got a hold of this emo (ah! I hate that word) slash indie-rock record from K-zoo locals Ender, and was surprised and delighted at its maturity and quality... Amazing songwriting, and truly captivating music. You probably won't be able to find this if you're interested in downloading it-- but-- you can go old-school, and actually go find it somewhere. There's always MySpace. It might even be at Corner Record Shop (if you live in K-zoo); I haven't looked for it there, but they have a decent local selection. But get it. Ask for it by name! It's worth it!
[song pick: "Unit 91 To Radio." Better than pretty much anything I've ever heard from a local band. And most national bands. Tie: "Don't Try To Be Stronger Than You Are;" contains the amazing line after which the album was named: "Good news from the stereo:/ I'm not the only one." The only thing I love more than music is when music is about music.]

7.) Kid Cudi "Man On The Moon: The End of Day." Kid Cudi was unfortunately ignored on hip-hop week, so I thought it was about time to make it up. This is the kind of laid-back, stoner hip-hop that feels like a hot summer day. I regret to say that I did not catch Kid Cudi's set at Rothbury this summer (sorry I'm showing you no love, Cudi!). Lately, this is my favorite first album of the day. Its sunniness and happy oblivion are the only thing that seem to be able to offset the frosty bite in the air in the morning; the first quiet, mocking moments of Michigan winter, a 6-month-long fuck-you from mother nature.

6.) Manchester Orchestra "Mean Everything To Nothing." This weird thing is happening to my music taste right now, and right now seems like a good time to talk about it. I mentioned earlier my Top 3; they are as follows (again, a list, not a ranking): The Shins, Death Cab, and Manchester Orchestra. Now, for significant periods of time, these bands had one thing in common: I favored all of their earlier albums (in Manchester's case, their first of what is now 2 full-length albums) and wasn't into their later work, for various reasons. And now, for some reason-- perhaps an ideological shift that seems to be taking place in my life, which has included quitting my job, and been manifest in other ways-- I have begun to prefer each of these three bands' most recent album (though not all of them are necessarily new), independently of one another, for various reasons. Which you may have noticed, of course, as you've found all three albums on this list. Hmm.
Sorry, I know that was a weird tangent.
I think I like this album because I have seen Manchester play twice in the past two months or so, and they for some reason only play new stuff. And you know how it is, when you see a band live and it brings another dimension to the music that you already know from the recorded album. Apply this to Manchester Orchestra-- an already electrified and scarily energetic indie-rock band-- and the result is what I imagine it feels like to take your first breath: the sobering, colt jolt of the world coming into focus around you.
[song pick: "The River." Holy. Shit.]

[take another break if you need one! 'cause...]
IT'S TIME FOR THE LAST 5!!!

5.) Vampire Weekend "Vampire Weekend." Delightful, fun, "Sunday morning"-feeling indie. Just add mocassins and brunch with your mom.
[song pick: "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa." The chorus: "Is your bed made?/ Is your sweater on?" Good, clean fun. Sooooo, so indie. Hope you're into that.]

4.) MGMT "Oracular Spectacular." Another strategically-ordered place in the list. I always go straight back and fourth between "Vampire Weekend" and MGMT's "Oracular Spectacular." Poll: do you pronounce it "M-G-M-T" or "Management"?"
[song pick: "Weekend Wars." One of those songs that I'll be listening to from across the room, and when I hear it come up on shuffle, I will literally go "YESSSS!" complete with the 90s arm gesture.]

3.) Fruit Bats "The Ruminant Band." You might remember the Fruit Bats from Barking Tuna Fest! If not, they play a Shins-ish, late-Beatley style of indie... Delightful. I'm telling you. This band is going to be around. AND... I recently found this album on vinyl! SCORE!
[song pick: "My Unusual Friend."]

2.) The Killers "Hot Fuss." For the longest time, I knew only two or three Killers songs, and any time I would listen to them, I would be like "why don't I listen to the Killers more? I really like them. This is good and I bet the rest is better." This went on for years. Then, one day, I downloaded this album, as well as pretty much everything else they ever did. And I was just left wondering why I never listen to my intuition. This album is incredible. The Killers are so much more original than anyone else in the pop-indie/ alt-rock spectrum (the line between those, of course, is largely grounded in popularity, which the Killers certainly have at this point-- they've been Guitar Heroed). This album is like a disco ball of dance-rock, inventing a glitzy and shimmering form of neo-glam rock, with a depth provided by unbelievable songwriting. This album is a classic in so many peoples' collections, and for excellent reason.
[song pick: "Smile Like You Mean It." The verses in this song feature perhaps the most perfect vocal melody ever. Another "YESSSSS!" song (not a Yes song) (please forgive my terrible corniness).]

1.) Kings of Leon "Only By The Night." Finally! You made it! This is a final and very significant list-song-order moment. "Hot Fuss" and "Only By The Night" are the most perfect yin/yang album combo ever. Not sure what else to say but that I effing love this album. Love itttt. You might have noticed that I wrote a review of this album back in the day when I started this blog (like three or four weeks ago).
[song pick: "Closer." Normally I would pick "Crawl," but I didn't want to because that was the song I picked for my album review. "Closer:" another classic opening track. For the rest of my life, whenever I hear "Closer," I will remember this fall; for better or worse, it's what this time in my life will always sound like to me.]

Thanks for putting up with this huge-ass list. I can't believe you even made it this far. Kudos!

SHOUTOUT TO BILL!!!!
--thejunkie


*not new or cool; nor Top 20 Of All Time. Just for now.

**review in progress [Angela Carlton]

[Editor's (i.e., my own) Note: You may have noticed that unlike my other posts, the genres and artists' names have not been "labeled" on this blog, as it only gives you 200 characters for labels and I could not fit them all. So, in keeping with tradition, I just tagged the people I shouted-out.
And, FYI, this list was originally 64 albums deep, and it's taken 3 separate sessions, equaling upwards of 8 hours to write this. Hope you liked it.]
[Another fun fact: I just converted this to a Word document and it is six pages, single-spaced. I will be incredibly surprised if anyone makes it all the way through it.]